System and method for locating desired traits in resources using a network

ABSTRACT

A system and method updates a consumer&#39;s preference information not only as a result of explicit preference information received from the consumer, but also resulting from actions of the user.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of attorney docket number 1692, U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/401,234 entitled “method andApparatus for Locating Desired Traits in Resources Using a Network”filed by Alex F. Mehr and Shayan G. Zadeh on Aug. 10, 2011, having thesame assignee as the present invention and is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to computer software and morespecifically to identifying and matching desired traits with resourcesthat can provide such traits.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Consumers of resources can select the resource based on the value ofcertain traits the resource possesses. For example, a racehorse may beselected based on its speed. Some consumers select resources based onthe value of multiple traits, with the consumers trading off one traitwith another based on the importance, or weight, the consumer assigns tothat trait. Thus, a racehorse may not only be selected based on itsspeed, but also on its overall bone structure. A fast racehorse withbrittle bones is not as valuable to a consumer interested in long termownership as a slightly slower racehorse with stronger bones.

When a consumer starts the resource selection process, the consumer maynot know all of the traits that the consumer will ultimately findimportant. Thus, initially, a consumer may simply look for the fastestracehorse, but over time, may learn that bone structure is a trait thatthey would like to consider.

The consumer may also assign a weight to each trait, but consumers arenot always forthcoming in the weight assigned to each trait. Theconsumer may decide that bone structure is the most important trait, andspeed is the second most important trait. However, when the consumerultimately selects the horse, he may discover that speed is actuallyequally important to bone structure.

A consumer may initially determine that only certain values of traitsare acceptable, but consumers can change their minds regarding suchvalues. For example, the consumer may initially decide that a certainprice for the horse is his or her maximum. However, presented with avery fast horse with excellent bone structure, the consumer may elect tospend more than their stated maximum.

In addition, the consumer may not realize that the consumer findscertain traits to be important. A consumer may find that consumergravitating towards taller horses, when the height of the horse is noteven on the list of traits the consumer believes are important to thatconsumer.

There are different methods that can be used for selecting a resourceusing a network. For example, a consumer at the consumer system mayrequest a server to provide a list of all of the available resourcessubject to an initial selection criteria. The consumer can then siftthrough the profiles returned and select the most promising resources.This method may not work well when there are many resources, or if theconsumers do not wish to be so actively involved in locating them.

Passive consumers might prefer having a far smaller, targeted set ofresources provided to them based on a matching algorithm that uses theiranswers to a battery of questions. However, as noted above, theconsumers may not be aware of things that are important to them, may notbe cognizant of the weights and values of the characteristics theyprefer, and may not want to answer the lengthy battery of questions thatcan be required to provide a truly targeted match.

What is needed is a system and method that can identify a more targetedgroup of resources than is available using a search, that can match theresources to the consumer's preferences, without requiring the consumersto answer a lengthy battery of questions, and can learn the consumer'spreferences to provide better targeting of the available resources tothe consumer's preferences, even those preferences the consumer may notrealize they had.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

A system and method receives a limited amount of initial preferenceinformation from a consumer of resources, and attempts to match one ofthe resources to the consumer and the consumer views the resource andinformation about the resource and provides the system and method apositive or negative indication of interest in the resource as well asthe reason why the consumer is or is not interested in the matchedresource. The preferences of the consumer are then updated or refinedbased on such information. The system and method additionally watchesother activity the user performs with respect to matched resources aswell as the other available resources and updates or refines the user'spreferences based on such activity.

To match the consumer with one of the available resources, thepreferences of the user are considered against the characteristics ofthe available resources. In addition, the interest and activity ofconsumers with similar preferences of a consumer may be used to match aresource that consumers with similar preferences found desirable.

Different resources matched to each consumer may be presented to theconsumer during each of several periods, such as every day. Whendisplaying a resource matched to a consumer, the resource andinformation about the resource may be displayed along with a countdownclock indicating how much longer the resource match will be applicableto that user. If the user indicates an interest in that resource beforethe end of the period indicated by the clock, information that can beuseful in allowing the consumer to connect with the resource is providedto that consumer. In one embodiment, consumers also possess resources orare resources themselves and vice versa, and in such embodiment, theindication of interest must be mutual before the consumers are providedwith information that will allow them to connect with one another.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block schematic diagram of a conventional computer system.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of updating preferenceinformation for each of several consumers of resources according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of receiving informationthat may be used to discern preference information according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of identifying potentialmutual matches for several users according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a representative display of a potential mutual match accordingto one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block schematic diagram of a system for receivinginformation that may be used to discern preference information,receiving and updating preference information from users and formatching users to resources according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a block schematic diagram of a match identification manager ofFIG. 6 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block schematic diagram of a match display manager of FIG. 6according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention may be implemented as computer software on aconventional computer system. Referring now to FIG. 1, a conventionalcomputer system 150 for practicing the present invention is shown.Processor 160 retrieves and executes software instructions stored instorage 162 such as memory, which may be Random Access Memory (RAM) andmay control other components to perform the present invention. Storage162 may be used to store program instructions or data or both. Storage164, such as a computer disk drive or other nonvolatile storage, mayprovide storage of data or program instructions. In one embodiment,storage 164 provides longer term storage of instructions and data, withstorage 162 providing storage for data or instructions that may only berequired for a shorter time than that of storage 164. Input device 166such as a computer keyboard or mouse or both allows user input to thesystem 150. Output 168, such as a display or printer, allows the systemto provide information such as instructions, data or other informationto the user of the system 150. Storage input device 170 such as aconventional floppy disk drive or CD-ROM drive accepts via input 172computer program products 174 such as a conventional floppy disk orCD-ROM or other nonvolatile storage media that may be used to transportcomputer instructions or data to the system 150. Computer programproduct 174 has encoded thereon computer readable program code devices176, such as magnetic charges in the case of a floppy disk or opticalencodings in the case of a CD-ROM which are encoded as programinstructions, data or both to configure the computer system 150 tooperate as described below.

In one embodiment, each computer system 150 is a conventional SUNMICROSYSTEMS ULTRA 10 workstation running the SOLARIS operating systemcommercially available from SUN MICROSYSTEMS, Inc. of Mountain View,Calif., a PENTIUM-compatible personal computer system such as areavailable from DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION of Round Rock, Tex. running aversion of the WINDOWS operating system (such as XP, VISTA or 7)commercially available from MICROSOFT Corporation of Redmond Wash. or aMacintosh computer system running the MACOS or OPENSTEP operating systemcommercially available from APPLE INCORPORATED of Cupertino, Calif. andthe MOZILLA browser commercially available from MOZILLA FOUNDATION ofMountain View, Calif. or INTERNET EXPLORER browser commerciallyavailable from MICROSOFT above, although other systems may be used. Eachcomputer system 150 may be a DROID 2 mobile telephone commerciallyavailable from MOTOROLA CORPORATION of Schaumberg, Ill. running theANDROID operating system commercially available from GOOGLE, INC. ofMountain View, Calif. Various computer systems may be employed, with thevarious computer systems communicating with one another via theInternet, a conventional cellular telephone network, an Ethernetnetwork, or all of these.

User Registration.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a method of updating preference information foreach of several consumers of resources is shown according to oneembodiment of the present invention. As described herein, the resources,and the consumers are all part of the same pool of registered users ofan online dating service, but the present invention can apply to theselection of a target set of resources for one or more consumers, usinga network. Thus, in the case of online dating and other situations, auser may be operating as a consumer and as a resource to other users.The term, ‘user’ as used herein may sometimes be described as a useracting as a consumer and other times as a user acting as a resource.

A user is registered, and values of characteristics that describe theuser are received and stored associated with that user 210. Registrationmay include assigning or receiving a username and password for the userbeing registered. In one embodiment, characteristics may includephysical characteristics, such as sex, height, weight, hair color andnationality of the user or the resource the user is providing, and mayinclude nonphysical characteristics such as sexual orientation,religious beliefs, the degree to which the user practices theirreligion, and other nonphysical characteristics of the user or theresource the user is providing. As noted, the resource the user may beproviding may be the user himself or herself.

Initial preference information is prompted for and received, and storedassociated with the user 212. In one embodiment, initial preferenceinformation includes preferences of the user corresponding to thatuser's desire for a potential mate or potential date, though preferencesin other embodiments may be generally described as preferences for theresource the user is seeking as a consumer. Preference informationcontains several items, and the items may include any or all of thecharacteristics described above. In one embodiment, preferenceinformation for each item on a list of potential preferences include aweight for that item and a value for that item. For example, apreference for height may include the value of a desired height, and aweight indicating how important the value for that item must be met inorder for another user to be considered a potential match.

A value of a preference item may include a range of values. For example,the value for a height preference item may include “5′8″ or above” or5′8″ to 6′2″. A value for a preference item may include a selection ofseveral or all possible values. For example, a value of a hair colorpreference may include “blonde” and “brown hair”, or a single value thatencompasses multiple potential values, such as “brunette”.

Initial preference information may also include weights. The weights fora preference item indicate the importance of the item to a user. Weightsmay be expressed as a value, or as a function. For example, a preferenceitem may be important to a user, but if the resource has acharacteristic that closely matches the value of a different preferenceitem (or several characteristics that closely match the value of adifferent preference item), the user may be willing to reduce the weightof the first item, and so the weight of the first item may be expressedas a function of one or more other items. For example, a user mayindicate that they would prefer a college educated man over 5′8″ tall,with each characteristic being of equal importance and hometown notbeing important at all, however, if someone is located from theirhometown who went to the same college as the user, they would be willingto accept someone up to two inches shorter than 5′8″, and such weightfor the height item may be expressed as a function of the other twopreference items. In one embodiment, the initial preference informationis only described as a numeric value, but it may be adjusted at a latertime by expressing it as a function, as additional information iscollected from that user.

The preference information received as described above is storedassociated with the user from which the preferences were received 214.The method continues at step 216 and step 210. Step 210 may be performedfor another user, with any number of users registered and assignedinitial preference values and weights, and step 216 may be performed formultiple users as described herein.

Overview of Potential Mutual Match.

Potential mutual matches are identified and stored 216 as described inmore detail with respect to FIG. 4. In one embodiment, each potentialmutual match is only applicable for a period of time, such as one day.If the end of such period has been reached 218, the method continues atstep 222. Otherwise 218, the method waits 220 until the end of theperiod has been reached. Although such waiting is performed in oneembodiment, other embodiments may perform some or all of the functionsdescribed below as soon as possible, such as when any one user of apotential mutual match provides interest information as described below,or when both such users of a potential mutual match have providedinterest information.

Although the potential mutual matches are selected at the same time forall users as described herein, in other embodiments, potential mutualmatches for a user are identified at the time the user logs in, unlessthat user has already been matched via a potential mutual match toanother user.

User Views Potential Mutual Match, Performs Other Functions with OtherUser's Profiles

At any time, a user may log in and view their potential mutual matchesand perform other functions, such as viewing other user's profiles andthe like. In one embodiment, many of the user's actions are used todiscern preference information, as will now be described.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a method of receiving information that may beused to discern preference information is shown according to oneembodiment of the present invention. A user login is performed 310. Inone embodiment, performing a user log in includes receiving a useridentifier and a password from a user via a user system on a network andattempting to match a password stored associated with that useridentifier with the password and user identifier received from the user.In one embodiment, the date and time the user logged in is storedassociated with the user.

The applicable potential mutual match for the user who logged in isdisplayed, including a photograph of the other user matched, informationabout the user such as the profile, and may include reasons the otheruser was selected for the match as well as reasons the user who loggedin was selected for the match with the other user, along with a clockindicating an expiration time or expiration for that potential mutualmatch 312. The clock may be a countdown clock that changes value fromtime to time to indicate the amount of time remaining until thepotential mutual match is no longer applicable, or otherwise indicatesan amount of time. As described in more detail below, potential mutualmatches are applicable only for one period, such as one day, and at theend of that period, they expire and are no longer applicable. However, anew potential mutual match is identified at the end of each period orwhen the user logs in following the end of the period for the lastpotential mutual match the user viewed, so an applicable potentialmutual match will always be available for the user to view, in oneembodiment. In one embodiment, the potential mutual match is displayedby displaying a photo of the other user of the potential mutual match,some or all of the characteristics provided by that other userdescribing the other user (such information may be referred to as theother user's profile), other statistics such as how many times thatother user's profile was viewed, when they last logged on, etc, and theclock that counts down the amount of time remaining until that potentialmutual match is expired and no longer applicable.

A representative display of a potential mutual match is shown in FIG. 5.A photograph of the other user 508 matched, along with the name 510 andprofile information for that user 512 is displayed. Statistics 514 aboutthat user and other user's actions with respect to that user aredisplayed. Information about why the users were matched 516, 518 isdisplayed. An updating countdown clock 520 is displayed. Icons 522-528indicating actions to perform with the user and interest in the user aredisplayed. Text boxes 530, 532 the user can use to provide informationabout what the user liked or didn't like about the applicable match aredisplayed for the user to fill in and submit.

In one embodiment, the display is performed at the user's computersystem, and data from the user is received at the user's computersystem. Such information is received, stored and provided by a serverover a network. In one embodiment, the data displayed in the profilerepresents physical characteristics of the other user, such as heightand weight as well as compilation of physical actions performed, such asthe number of other users who viewed that user's profile.

Interest information for the applicable potential mutual match isreceived from the user and stored associated with the user 314. In oneembodiment, the user may skip step 314 (and come back to perform step314 at a later time or at the next log in) and move directly to step 320as indicated by the dashed line in the Figure, though in anotherembodiment, step 314 is required to be performed before other actionsmay be performed.

In one embodiment, interest information includes an indication as towhether the user is interested in the potential mutual match, or notinterested, as well as information regarding reasons why the user isinterested or not interested in the potential mutual match. For example,the user may indicate that they are not interested in the other user whois part of the potential mutual match because the other user is tooshort. Interest information may include characteristics liked anddisliked by the other user, whether the user is interested in the otheruser or not.

If both parties associated with the potential mutual match indicate thatthey are interested in each other 316, both parties are connected 318,for example by providing their usernames to one another. The methodcontinues at step 320. Otherwise 316, the method continues at step 320.

At step 320, the user may perform other actions, such as performing asearch of other users based on desired values of characteristics thatare specified by the user performing the search or specifying a userwhose profile (e.g. the characteristics supplied by that other user andother statistics for the other user) is to be displayed. In the case ofa search, a list of other users matching or approximately matching thecharacteristics provided for the search are displayed on a list (with asubset of the other user's profile information) from which the user mayselect for viewing any of the other users so displayed. If the userselects 322 one of the other users to view a more complete descriptionof the selected other user, for example from the list displayed in step320, the selection to view the profile of the other user is recordedassociated with the user making the selection 324 and the methodcontinues at step 326. Otherwise 322, the method continues at step 326.In one embodiment, any of the search parameters may be stored associatedwith the user.

In the case in which the user specifies the profile of the other user,the “yes” branch of step 322 is considered to have been taken althoughthe recordation of the selection of that user may be indicated as havingbeen made via direct specification rather than a search.

In one embodiment, a user may request another user to become a friendwhen viewing that other user's profile as described above, and the otheruser will receive a request, and can accept or deny the request. If theuser requests the other user as a friend (i.e. the user “friends” theother user, a process that may be referred to as “friending” the otheruser) 326, or the other user responds to the request, the useridentifier of the user other than the party taking such action and theaction taken is stored associated with the user performing such action328, and the method continues at step 340. Otherwise 326, the methodcontinues at step 340.

In one embodiment, when viewing another user's profile, a user maycontact another user. If the user contacts another user 340, the useridentifier of the contact of the other user is stored associated withthe user 342, and the method continues at step 344. Otherwise 340, themethod continues at step 344.

In one embodiment, when sending a contact message to another user, auser may arrange or agree to a date with another user. To identify thata message is a date, the user may so indicate or the message may bescanned for words indicating it is a date, such as the specification ofan address and/or a time, or a message indicating acceptance by theother user following such a message by the user. If a user arranges oragrees to a date with another user 344, the indication of a date withthe other user set up by the user and the identifier of the other useris stored associated with the user 346, and the method continues at step348. Otherwise 344, the method continues at step 348.

In one embodiment, the user goes on a date with the other user. Thismeans two people physically move from two different locations to a thirdlocation, or the users call each other on the phone, with electroniccircuits completing the call. The user may then use the information thatthe user gains from dates with other users to refine their preferences,either explicitly, for example, explicitly changing them or by changingthe characteristics of other users with which they are willing toperform actions such as those described above. By going on a date, theuser is considered to consume the resource, but other embodiments mayhave users performing other activities that consume the resource. Forexample, a resource may be shipped from one location to another locationwhen a user purchases it.

To store an indication of an action by the user with another user, anidentifier of the action and an identifier of the other user is storedassociated with the user. The date and time the action was taken mayalso be stored.

In one embodiment, an attempt is made to identify unexpected search,viewing selections, friend requests or responses, contacts or dates thatthe user may have made as described above 348. An unexpected search,viewing selection, friend request or response, contact or date may beidentified if such other user has one or more characteristics that aresubstantially different than would be expected by the then currentlyrecorded preferences of the user making such selection to view, friendrequest or response, contact or date. For example, a user may indicatethat the other user was already known to that user, or was introduced bya different user, or the user may indicate that although the other userreally is too short, they were willing to make an exception because theother user had funny comments in their profile or had an attractivephoto or another characteristic or set of characteristics that werehighly desirable or that the user is willing to expand desiredcharacteristics from their initial values. If any such selections toview, friend requests or responses, contacts or dates are identified350, the user is asked why and a response to the question is receivedand stored associated with the user 352, and the method continues atstep 324. Otherwise 350, the method continues at step 354.

At step 354, if a new potential mutual match is applicable to the user,for example, because the time period for the most recent potentialmutual match has expired, the method continues at step 312 using thenewly applicable potential mutual match. Otherwise 354, the methodcontinues at step 320 or step 322 (for example, the user selects to viewa different other user from the same search).

Process Information Received.

As described herein, periodically, information received from differentusers is processed to enable a better potential mutual match when thenext such match is performed. In the embodiment in which such matchingis performed when users log in, the processing of the informationreceived as described herein may be performed prior to making the nextpotential mutual match.

At step 222, a first user is selected. The user selected is one fromwhom any information processed as described below has been receivedsince the last time the user was selected for processing. Suchinformation may be interest information received from the user, interestinformation received from an other user matched to the user in apotential mutual match or other information about the user's actionsrecorded as described below. In one embodiment, if interest informationfrom the other user in a potential mutual match is not received, butsuch other user logged in and did not provide any interest informationregarding the user for such potential mutual match, the other user isconsidered to have rejected the user or rejected the user to a lesserdegree than if the other user had explicitly rejected the user, and sothat other user is considered to have provided interest information forthe user and, as a result, the user will be selected at step 222, evenif no other information for the user was received.

The preference values and weights of the selected user from which anyinterest information was received are updated using any interestinformation received from the selected user 224. For example, if theselected user indicated the other user in the selected user's potentialmutual match was too tall, the height of such other user is used toadjust a maximum height preference item for the selected user, forexample, by ensuring that it is not higher than the height of such otheruser, or reducing such maximum in that direction. For example, if theother user is 5′11″ but the selected user had previously stated thattheir maximum acceptable height for a potential mutual match was 6′2″,the maximum height preference item for the selected other user may bereduced to 6′1″ in one embodiment, or 5′11″ in another embodiment.

The indication regarding whether an other user that was part of theselected user's potential mutual match indicated that such other userwould like to date the selected user, is retrieved, and a generaldesirability score for the selected user is updated using such retrievedinformation 226. The general desirability score may be the number ofother users who have viewed the user as a mutual potential match, whoindicated that they would like to date the user, divided by the totalnumber of other users who have viewed the user as a mutual potentialmatch. In one embodiment, an other user who explicitly rejects the usermay have a greater effect on the general desirability score of that userthan one who views the user but does not explicitly accept or rejectthat user, as determined by the fact that the other user logged in butdid not explicitly accept or reject the selected user. In oneembodiment, more recent indications may have a greater effect on theuser's general desirability score than older indications. In oneembodiment, only indications received since the last time the userupdated their profile (including the photos or photos) are used tocompute the general desirability score for that user.

In one embodiment, in addition to the explicit interest information,implied preference information may be used to update the user'spreference information based on actions of the user. Implied preferenceinformation is information that is provided by the user that does notexplicitly state a preference, such as information that may be discernedfrom a user's actions. Such actions may include rejecting or accepting amutual potential match, selecting to view a profile of another user, forexample one which the user has located as part of a search, identifyinganother user as a friend or requesting another user to become a friend,contacting another user, or setting up a date with another user. Each ofthe various types of implied preference information (e.g. theinformation discerned from various actions) may be used to alter auser's preferences (e.g. the weights and values stored as preferenceitems for that user) in a different manner, or to a different degree. Inone embodiment, a threshold number of actions from which impliedpreference information may be obtained must be received before suchalternate preference indications are used to adjust the preferences ofthe user to which they correspond. If such a threshold has been reached228, the preference values and weights for that user are updated 230 byidentifying patterns in the potential mutual matches accepted orrejected by that user, searches, viewing selections, friend requests andresponses (in one embodiment, a friend request that is not responded toafter a certain period of time following the next log in of therecipient of the request is considered a rejection or something lessthan a rejection), contacts, and dates of that user while accommodatingthe explanations of unexpected actions of the user as described above.The method continues at step 232. If the number of alternate preferenceindications has not exceeded the threshold 228, the method continues atstep 232.

At step 232, if there are more users, the next user is selected 234, andthe method continues at step 224 using the newly selected user. If thereare no more users 232, the method continues at step 218.

Identifying Potential Mutual Matches.

The method of identifying potential mutual matches as described above instep 216 may be performed in any of a number of ways. A potential mutualmatch may be identified for each of many users in a batch as describedbelow, or users may be matched as they log in. In one embodiment, acombination of techniques may be used: users who have logged in recentlyare matched in a batch and less frequent users are matched when they login.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a method of identifying potential mutualmatches for several users in a batch is shown according to oneembodiment of the present invention. From steps 214 or 232 of FIG. 2, asdescribed above, a user is selected 410. In one embodiment, the user isselected from among those users who have logged in within a thresholdamount of time, such as under 7 days ago. An other user not previouslymatched to the selected user is selected 412. In one embodiment theother user is selected from among users who have logged in within athreshold amount of time, such as under 7 days ago.

A preference score is identified that attempts to predict the preferenceof the selected user for the other user using weights and values of theselected user and the characteristics of the other user, and such scoreis stored associated with a tuple containing an identifier of theselected user and an identifier of the selected other user 414.

A collaborative filtering score is identified for the user and otheruser based on the interest information of users who have previously beenmatched with the selected other user via a prior potential mutual matchand the similarity of the preference information of such previouslymatched users with preference information of the selected user and thecollaborative filtering score is stored associated with the tuple 416.For example, if one of such previously matched other users haspreference information that is similar to that of the selected user, andsuch previously matched user indicated that they were interested in suchother user, a higher collaborative filtering score would be provided forsuch other user than if the previously matched other user had indicatedthat they were not interested in such selected other user.

A one way match score indicating the suitability of the selected otheruser for the selected user is identified as a function of the preferencescore for the selected user and selected other user, collaborativefiltering score for the selected user and the selected other user, andthe general desirability score of the selected other user and the oneway match score is stored associated with the tuple 418. For example,each of the individual scores may be multiplied by a factor and then theproducts of the factors and their respective scores may be summed. Ifthere are more other users that have not been previously matched to theselected user 420, the next such other user is selected 422, and themethod continues at step 414, using the newly selected other user.

If there are no more such other users 420, if there are more users 424,the next user is selected 426, and the method continues at step 412using the newly selected user. If there are no more users 424, themethod continues at step 430. The newly selected user and other usersare selected from the pool of users and other users described above forsuch selections (e.g. last log in was under 7 days ago).

At step 430, a first user is selected, and the best potential mutualmatch 432 is identified based on the one way match score of the selecteduser for each such other user for which a one way match score wascomputed, and one way match score of the other users for the selecteduser.

The selected user and other user corresponding to the best potentialmutual match are marked as having been matched as part of step 432. Ifthere are more on more users 434, the next such unmarked user isselected 436, and the method continues at step 432 using the newlyselected unmarked user. If there are no unmarked users 434, the methodcontinues at step 218.

In one embodiment, selection of the user at steps 430 and 436 mayinclude selecting a user for which the one way match score of theselected user and one other unmarked user are each above a threshold,and for which the number of other such other users is not higher thanany other unmarked user. The other user matched with the selected usermay be one that maximizes the sum of the one way match scores amongusers for which the one way match score in each direction exceeds athreshold.

In one embodiment, instead of selecting one user, identifying apotential mutual match with another user and then removing those twousers from the pool, a maximization algorithm is used to maximize thesum of the one way match scores for each potential mutual match made.

Thus, as is described herein, a “match” need not be an exact match ofanother user with the user's preferences, express and implied, it may bea correspondence with the user's preferences, express and implied asdescribed above. As indicated above, the selected user and the otheruser may be selected for the best potential mutual match based in partby these two user's interactions with still other users and theinformation of such other users.

System.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a system for matching consumers with resourcesis shown according to one embodiment of the present invention. In amanner similar to that described above, FIG. 6 will be described as ifthe users are both resources and the consumers of other resources, butother arrangements, such as entities that provide resources andentities, that are different from the first entities, that consumeresources, may also be matched by the system of FIG. 6.

User System.

User system 606 includes a conventional personal computer running aconventional browser or such as those described above. In one embodimentthere are multiple user systems and multiple users. Any number of usersystems 606 may be connected to the remainder of the system shown inFIG. 6. User systems 606 are coupled to the remainder of the system ofFIG. 6 via network 604. Network 604 is a conventional computer network,such as the Internet, an Ethernet network, or both of these. Network 604is coupled to user systems such as user system 606, as well asinput/output 608 of communication interface 610.

The remainder of the system of FIG. 6 may operate as a conventionalserver computer system, with user systems 606 operating as clientcomputer systems. In one embodiment, the server computer system includesa conventional web server.

Communication interface 610 is a conventional communication interfacerunning TCP/IP, Ethernet, and other communication protocols. Allcommunication between users and the server of FIG. 6 is performed bycommunication between their respective user systems 606 andcommunication interface 610.

Registration/preference/characteristic manager 620 provides a web pagethat provides a conventional user interface that receives a username andpassword, and registers users as described above, and stores theusername and password of each user registered into user informationstorage 630. Registration/preference/characteristic manager 620 promptsfor and receives the initial preference information as described above,and stores such initial preference information into user informationstorage 630 associated with the username corresponding to the user fromwhich it was received.

Registration/preference/characteristic manager 620 assigns and storesinto user information storage 630 initial preference values and weightsas described above.

Match identification manager 640 periodically identifies potentialmutual matches as described above using the information in userinformation storage 630. Information about the potential mutual match ofeach user is stored in user information storage 630 associated with eachof the user identifiers corresponding to the match identificationmanager 640 makes. In one embodiment, match identification manager 640stores in user information storage 630 associated with each match itmakes the date and time that the potential mutual match will expire asdescribed above.

Composition of Match Identification Manager.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a match identification manager 640 of FIG. 6 isshown in more detail according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. As will now be described, users may be prematched prior tolog in, however, in other embodiments, they may be matched as they login or at another time.

At the start of each period selection manager 710 selects users andother users as described above with respect to steps 410, 412, and420-424 of FIG. 4. Each time it selects a new combination of user andother user as described above, selection manager 710 provides a tuplecontaining the identifiers of the user and the other user selected aboveto preference score manager 712, which computes a preference score usingthe preferences of the user referenced in the tuple and thecharacteristics of the selected other user referenced in the tuple asdescribed above and provides to collaborative filter score manager 714 apreference score and the tuple it received containing the identifiers ofthe users.

When it receives the preference score and the tuple, collaborativefilter score manager 714 computes the collaborative filter score usingthe preferences of the user in the tuple it receives and the actions ofdifferent users, who have preferences similar to the user in the tuplethat such different users may have performed with the other user in thetuple as described above, and provides the preference score,collaborative filter score and the tuple it received containing theidentifiers of the users to one-way match score manager 716.

When it receives the preference score, the collaborative filter scoreand the tuple, one-way match score manager 716 retrieves from userinformation storage 630 the general desirability score of the other userin the tuple and uses the general desirability score of the other user,and the preference score and the collaborative filtering score itreceives to provide a one-way match score as described above, storesinto user information storage 630 the one-way match score along with thetuple of the two user identifiers described above, and signals selectionmanger 710. When signaled, selection manager 710 then selects a newother user, or if no such other users are available for selection,selects a new user and a first other user, and initiates the scoringprocess described above until the one-way match scores for all users itmay select as described above have been computed and stored.

When all such one way match scores of users that may be selected byselection manager 710 have been computed (e.g. selection manager 710reaches the equivalent of the no branch of step 424 of FIG. 4),selection manager 710 signals mutual match manager 718, which uses theone-way match scores stored in user information storage 630 to identifythe best potential mutual matches of each of the users as describedabove. Mutual match manager 718 stores in user information storage 630the expiration date and time of each potential mutual match, and useridentifiers of the users matched, associated with both users of eachmatch.

Components Handling User Log in.

Referring again to FIG. 6, at any time, a user may use user system 606to log in to the server of FIG. 6. When the user attempts to log in,communication interface 610 connects user system 606 to log-in manager650. In response, log in manager 650 provides a web page to allow theuser to provide log in information, receives such information andperforms the conventional log-in function described above using the useridentifier and passwords stored in user information storage 630. If thelog-in is successful, log-in manager 650 provides the user identifier ofthe user logged in to match display manager 652 in the embodiment inwhich the users are pre matched. In the embodiment in which users arematched as they log in, log in manager 650 checks user interface storage630 for an unexpired potential mutual match for the user who just loggedin. If one exists, log in manager 650 provides the user identificationof such user to match display manager 652.

In the embodiment in which users are matched as they log in, if there isno currently applicable (i.e. unexpired) potential mutual match for theuser who logged in, log-in manager 650 provides the user identifier ofthe user who successfully logged in to selection manager 710 of matchidentification manager 640. In this embodiment, selection manager 710operates as described above, except that it only selects as the user,the user having the identifier it receives (but selects the differentother users as described above, with the exception that users alreadyassigned to an applicable potential mutual match are not selected as another user). Preference score manager 712, collaborative filter scoremanager 714, and one-way match score manager 716 not only compute andprovide as described above their respective scores for the user, butalso, compute the corresponding score for the other user as the user,using the user as the other user. One way match score manager 716 willalso store the one way match score from the other user to the user whenit stores the one way match score of the user to the other user asdescribed above. When it has finished selecting and initiating theassignment of one way match scores with the other users, selectionmanager 710 provides the identifier of the user it received to mutualmatch manager 718.

When it receives the user identifier, mutual match manager 718 selects apotential mutual match for the user corresponding to the user identifierit receives using the one way match scores (for the user and the otherusers) associated with the user whose identifier it receives, such asselecting the user and other user that each have the lowest one-waymatch score exceeding a threshold, or selecting the highest total sum ofthe two one way match scores that each exceeds a threshold value,assigns such potential mutual match for the user and the other user inuser storage 630 and signals log-in manager 650. When so signaled,log-in manager 650 then provides to match display manager 652 the useridentifier of the user who logged in.

Components Handling Display of Potential Mutual Matches and Receipt ofInterest Information.

When it receives the user identifier as described above, match displaymanager 652 uses the user identifier it receives to retrieve the thenapplicable potential mutual match and provides data representing thepotential mutual match to the user system 606, whose conventionalbrowser renders such potential mutual match onto the display screen asdescribed above.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a match display manager 652 is shown in moredetail according to one embodiment of the present invention. Profiledisplay manager 810 receives the user identifier of the user, andretrieves the user identifier of the other user matched to such user andretrieves from user information storage 630 and provides to user system606 for display a photograph and profile information of the other userand may provide for display other statistics of the other user asdescribed above. In one embodiment, one or more photographs are receivedfrom the user and stored into user storage 630 associated with thatuser's username by registration/preference/characteristic manager 620.Profile display manager 810 provides to match accept reject manager 812,the like/dislike manager 814, and clock display manager 816, theidentifier of the user who logged in or is otherwise viewing thepotential mutual match.

When it receives the user identifier, match accept reject manager 812provides for display icons or other controls to allow the user receivingthe potential mutual match to indicate whether or not that user isinterested in the other user corresponding to the potential mutualmatch. Match accept reject manager 812 receives an indication from theuser indication whether the user is interested in the other user of theuser's potential mutual match and stores into user information storage630 such indications associated with the user from which the indicationwas received. If the user indicates interest in the other user, matchaccept reject manager 812 checks to determine whether the other usercorresponding to the same potential mutual match has also indicatedtheir interest in the user. If so, match accept reject manager 812provides the username of each user to the other user of the potentialmutual match.

When it receives the identifier of the user, like/dislike manager 814provides to the user system 606 one or more text boxes or other controlsthat the user may use to indicate why they are, or are not, interestedin the other user corresponding to the potential mutual match.Like/dislike manager 814 receives any such information provided by theuser and stores such information into user information storage 630associated with the user from which it was received.

When it receives the identifier, of the user, clock display manager 816retrieves from user storage 630 the expiration time of the potentialmutual match applicable to such user and provides to user system 606 fordisplay to the user an updating clock display program or script thatprovides a periodically updating clock indicating the amount of timeremaining until such applicable match expires. The program or scriptwill signal log in manager 650 if it is running at the time of suchexpiration, at which point log in manager 650 will operate as if theuser had just logged in and will initiate the assignment and/or displayof a newly currently applicable potential mutual match.

Components Handling Other User Actions.

Referring again to FIG. 6, other action manager 660 provides icons ontodisplayed web pages that allow the user to perform other actions (e.g.search, select to view, friend request or response, etc.) as describedabove, and provides suitable web interface controls onto that page orother pages to allow the user to indicate the action desired and toprovide parameters to the actions the user is requesting, such asdesired characteristics to be searched, or user names of members whoseprofile that user would like to view, or who the user would like tocontact or set up a date. Other action manager 660 provides appropriateresponses to such requests for actions using conventional methods. Forexample, if the user performs a search, other action manager 660 mayprovide for display search results using conventional techniques byusing the information stored in user storage 630. If the user selects toview the profile of a user whose profile is summarized in the searchresults, other action manager 660 provides to user system 606 fordisplay the profile of the selected user from user storage 630.

In addition, other action manager 660 stores in user information storage630 associated with the user requesting the action, the date and thetime the action was performed, and indication of the action requested,and any parameters provided by the user.

Other action manager 660 may provide the indication of the action, andthe parameters to unexpected action manager 662, which uses any or allof the action, parameters of the action specified by the user, thecharacteristics stored in user information storage 630 of any userspecified by a parameter and the preference information for the userrequesting such action stored in user information storage 630 todetermine whether such other action is an unexpected action as describedabove because it indicates a preference for one or more users that isinconsistent with one or more preferences of the user requesting theaction. If so, unexpected action manager 662 may provide a web page tothe user system 606 prompting the user to explain why such action wastaken as described above. Unexpected action manager 662 receives suchinformation and stores such information received from the user into userinformation storage 630 associated with the user. Additionally,unexpected action manager 662 may update the user's preferenceinformation stored in user information storage resulting from theinformation received from the user and the original action, itsparameters, and the characteristics of any specific user.

Components Updating User Preference Information.

In one embodiment, when match accept reject manager 812 of FIG. 8 orlike/dislike manager 814 stores information into user informationstorage 630, the entity 812, 814 storing such information signalsinterest information update manager 670 with the user identifier of theuser from which such interest information was received, and interestinformation update manager 670 uses such information received to updatein user information storage 630 the preference information for that useras described above. Match accept reject manager 812 additionally signalsgeneral desirability manager 672 with the user identifier of the otheruser corresponding to a potential mutual match when it stores anindication of whether the user accepts the match as described above.When it receives such user identifier, general desirability manager 672updates that user's general desirability score as described above.

If unexpected action manager 662, determines the action was notunexpected, unexpected action manager 662 provides the user identifierof the user performing the action to other information update manager674, which determines whether there is sufficient information receivedfrom that user to update the user's preference information, and if so,updates the user's preference information using the actions and anyparameters stored for that user as described above.

In one embodiment, the date and time is stored into user informationstorage 630 by the various elements (e.g. 620, 812, 814, 662 and 660)that store such information and such date and time information is alsoused to perform the functions described above by the elements (e.g.662-674) that update such information, in the manner described above.

SUMMARY

Described herein is a method of identifying and providing a potentialmutual correspondence of resources offered and interests in resourcebetween two of a plurality of resource providers offering theirresources over a network and displaying the potential mutualcorrespondence to at least one of the resource providers via thenetwork, the method including receiving at a first computer systemcoupled to the network, via a plurality of second computer systemscoupled to the network, characteristics about the resources beingprovided by each of the plurality of resource providers, receiving atthe first computer system via the plurality of second computer systemsvia the network from each of the plurality of resource providers,explicit preference information for characteristics of the resourcesdesired by said resource provider, receiving at the first computersystem a plurality of indications of actions taken by each of theplurality of resource providers regarding individual other resourceproviders, the actions having been taken for purposes other thanproviding preference information for characteristics of the resourcesdesired by said resource provider, identifying at the first computersystem the potential mutual correspondence between the two resourceproviders responsive to the characteristics of the two resourceproviders, the explicit preference information received from the tworesource providers and at least one other of the plurality of resourceproviders and at least some of the indications of actions of the tworesource providers and at least one other of the plurality of resourceproviders, and providing from the first computer system to at least oneof the plurality of second computer systems, an indication of at leastone of the two resource providers for which the potential mutualcorrespondence was identified to the other of the two resourceproviders, responsive to the identifying step.

In one embodiment, the potential mutual correspondence has an expirationdate and time, and the method additionally includes displaying anindication of the expiration date and time.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions action is a selection ofone of the plurality of resource providers user from results of asearch.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions is a request or aresponse to a request to indicate a relationship with one of theplurality of resource providers.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions is a sending of a messageto one of the plurality of resource providers.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions is an indication that apreviously identified potential mutual correspondence between one of thetwo resource providers and one of the plurality of users was or was notof interest to the at least one of the two users.

In one embodiment, the identifying step is additionally responsive to anumber of the plurality of resource providers who have indicated aninterest in at least one of the two resource providers.

In one embodiment, the interest is indicated responsive to one of the atleast one of the two resource providers being identified as part of aprior potential mutual correspondence between such resource provider andeach of at least one of the other of the plurality of resource providersidentified prior to the identifying step.

Additionally, there is a system. The system is for identifying andproviding a potential mutual correspondence of resources offered andinterests in resource between two of a plurality of resource providersoffering their resources over a network and displaying the potentialmutual correspondence to at least one of the resource providers via thenetwork, the system includes a registration/preference/characteristicmanager at a first computer system having an input coupled to a networkfor receiving via a plurality of second computer systems coupled to thenetwork, user identifiers, characteristics about the resources beingprovided by each of the plurality of resource providers and explicitpreference information for characteristics of the resources desired bysaid resource provider, the registration/preference/characteristic forproviding at an output for each of the plurality of resource providers,the user identifier of said resource provider, the characteristicsreceived from such resource provider, and the explicit preferenceinformation received from said resource provider at theregistration/preference/characteristic manager input, an other actionmanager at the first computer system having an input coupled forreceiving at the first computer system a plurality of indications ofactions taken by each of the plurality of resource providers regardingindividual other resource providers, comprising the user identifier ofthe resource provider taking the action and the user identifier of saidindividual other resource provider, the actions having been taken forpurposes other than providing preference information for characteristicsof the resources desired by said resource provider, the other actionmanager for providing at an output, for each action, the user identifierof each resource provider, an identifier of the action and the useridentifier of the other resource provider, an identification manager atthe first computer system having an input coupled to theregistration/preference/characteristic manager output for receiving atleast some of the user identifiers, the characteristics, and theexplicit preference information, and to the other action manager outputfor receiving at least some of the user identifiers, identifiers of theactions and the user identifiers of the other resource providers, theidentification manager for identifying the potential mutualcorrespondence between the two resource providers responsive to thecharacteristics of the two resource providers, the explicit preferenceinformation received from the two resource providers and at least oneother of the plurality of resource providers and at least some of theidentifiers of the actions of the two resource providers and at leastone other of the plurality of resource providers and providing the useridentifiers of the two resource providers at an output, and a displaymanager at the first computer system having an input coupled to theidentification manager output for receiving the user identifiers of thetwo resource providers, the display manager for providing at an outputcoupled to the network, to at least one of the plurality of secondcomputer systems, an indication of at least one of the two resourceproviders for which the potential mutual correspondence was identifiedto the other of the two resource providers, responsive to the useridentifiers received at the display manager input.

In one embodiment, the potential mutual correspondence has an expirationdate and time, and the display manager provides the indication with anindication of the expiration date and time.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions is a selection of one ofthe plurality of resource providers user from results of a search.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions is a request or aresponse to a request to indicate a relationship with one of theplurality of resource providers.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions is a sending of a messageto one of the plurality of resource providers.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions is an indication that apreviously identified potential mutual correspondence between one of thetwo resource providers and one of the plurality of users was or was notof interest to the at least one of the two users.

In one embodiment, the system additionally includes a generaldesirability manager having an input coupled for receiving from each ofat least some of the plurality of resource providers a user identifierof that resource provider an indication of interest in at least oneother of the plurality of resource providers and for each of indicationof interest, the user identifier of said other resource provider, thegeneral desirability manager for identifying for each other of theplurality of resource providers a general desirability score responsiveto the indication of interests in that other resource provider receivedat the general desirability manager input and for providing the generaldesirability score at an output, and the identification manager input isadditionally coupled to the general desirability manager output forreceiving the general desirability scores, and the identificationmanager identifies the potential mutual correspondence additionallyresponsive to the general desirability scores.

In one embodiment, the interest is indicated responsive to one of the atleast one of the two resource providers being identified as part ofprior potential mutual correspondence between such resource provider andeach of at least some of the plurality of resource providers identifiedbefore the identification of the potential mutual correspondence.

Described is a computer program product comprising a computer useablemedium having computer readable program code embodied therein foridentifying and providing a potential mutual correspondence of resourcesoffered and interests in resource between two of a plurality of resourceproviders offering their resources over a network and displaying thepotential mutual correspondence to at least one of the resourceproviders via the network, the computer program product comprisingcomputer readable program code devices configured to cause a computersystem to receive at a first computer system coupled to the network, viaa plurality of second computer systems coupled to the network,characteristics about the resources being provided by each of theplurality of resource providers, receive at the first computer systemvia the plurality of second computer systems via the network from eachof the plurality of resource providers, explicit preference informationfor characteristics of the resources desired by said resource provider,receive at the first computer system a plurality of indications ofactions taken by each of the plurality of resource providers regardingindividual other resource providers, the actions having been taken forpurposes other than providing preference information for characteristicsof the resources desired by said resource provider, identify at thefirst computer system the potential mutual correspondence between thetwo resource providers responsive to the characteristics of the tworesource providers, the explicit preference information received fromthe two resource providers and at least one other of the plurality ofresource providers and at least some of the indications of actions ofthe two resource providers and at least one other of the plurality ofresource providers, and provide from the first computer system to atleast one of the plurality of second computer systems, an indication ofat least one of the two resource providers for which the potentialmutual correspondence was identified to the other of the two resourceproviders, responsive to the computer readable program code devicesconfigured to cause the computer system to identify.

In one embodiment, the potential mutual correspondence has an expirationdate and time, and there are also comprising computer readable programcode devices configured to cause the computer system to display anindication of the expiration date and time.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions action is a selection ofone of the plurality of resource providers user from results of asearch.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions is a request or aresponse to a request to indicate a relationship with one of theplurality of resource providers.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions is a sending of a messageto one of the plurality of resource providers.

In one embodiment, at least one of the actions is an indication that apreviously identified potential mutual correspondence between one of thetwo resource providers and one of the plurality of users was or was notof interest to the at least one of the two users.

In one embodiment, the computer readable program code devices configuredto cause the computer system to identify are additionally responsive toa number of the plurality of resource providers who have indicated aninterest in at least one of the two resource providers.

In one embodiment, the interest is indicated responsive to one of the atleast one of the two resource providers being identified as part of aprior potential mutual correspondence between such resource provider andeach of at least one of the other of the plurality of resource providersidentified prior to the computer readable program code devicesconfigured to cause the computer system to identify.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of identifying and providing a potentialmutual correspondence of resources offered and interests in resourcebetween two of a plurality of resource providers offering theirresources over a network and displaying the potential mutualcorrespondence to at least one of the resource providers via thenetwork, the method comprising: receiving at a first computer systemcoupled to the network, via a plurality of second computer systemscoupled to the network, characteristics about the resources beingprovided by each of the plurality of resource providers; receiving atthe first computer system via the plurality of second computer systemsvia the network from each of the plurality of resource providers,explicit preference information for characteristics of the resourcesdesired by said resource provider; receiving at the first computersystem a plurality of indications of actions taken by each of theplurality of resource providers regarding individual other resourceproviders, the actions having been taken for purposes other thanproviding preference information for characteristics of the resourcesdesired by said resource provider; identifying at the first computersystem the potential mutual correspondence between the two resourceproviders responsive to the characteristics of the two resourceproviders, the explicit preference information received from the tworesource providers and at least one other of the plurality of resourceproviders and at least some of the indications of actions of the tworesource providers and at least one other of the plurality of resourceproviders; and providing from the first computer system to at least oneof the plurality of second computer systems, an indication of at leastone of the two resource providers for which the potential mutualcorrespondence was identified to the other of the two resourceproviders, responsive to the identifying step.
 2. The method of claim 1:wherein the potential mutual correspondence has an expiration date andtime; and additionally comprising displaying an indication of theexpiration date and time.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least oneof the actions action is a selection of one of the plurality of resourceproviders user from results of a search.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein at least one of the actions is a request or a response to arequest to indicate a relationship with one of the plurality of resourceproviders.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the actionsis a sending of a message to one of the plurality of resource providers.6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the actions is anindication that a previously identified potential mutual correspondencebetween one of the two resource providers and one of the plurality ofusers was or was not of interest to the at least one of the two users.7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying step is additionallyresponsive to a number of the plurality of resource providers who haveindicated an interest in at least one of the two resource providers. 8.The method of claim 7, wherein the interest is indicated responsive toone of the at least one of the two resource providers being identifiedas part of a prior potential mutual correspondence between such resourceprovider and each of at least one of the other of the plurality ofresource providers identified prior to the identifying step.
 9. A systemfor identifying and providing a potential mutual correspondence ofresources offered and interests in resource between two of a pluralityof resource providers offering their resources over a network anddisplaying the potential mutual correspondence to at least one of theresource providers via the network, the system comprising: aregistration/preference/characteristic manager at a first computersystem having an input coupled to a network for receiving via aplurality of second computer systems coupled to the network, useridentifiers, characteristics about the resources being provided by eachof the plurality of resource providers and explicit preferenceinformation for characteristics of the resources desired by saidresource provider, the registration/preference/characteristic forproviding at an output for each of the plurality of resource providers,the user identifier of said resource provider, the characteristicsreceived from such resource provider, and the explicit preferenceinformation received from said resource provider at theregistration/preference/characteristic manager input; an other actionmanager at the first computer system having an input coupled forreceiving at the first computer system a plurality of indications ofactions taken by each of the plurality of resource providers regardingindividual other resource providers, comprising the user identifier ofthe resource provider taking the action and the user identifier of saidindividual other resource provider, the actions having been taken forpurposes other than providing preference information for characteristicsof the resources desired by said resource provider, the other actionmanager for providing at an output, for each action, the user identifierof each resource provider, an identifier of the action and the useridentifier of the other resource provider; an identification manager atthe first computer system having an input coupled to theregistration/preference/characteristic manager output for receiving atleast some of the user identifiers, the characteristics, and theexplicit preference information, and to the other action manager outputfor receiving at least some of the user identifiers, identifiers of theactions and the user identifiers of the other resource providers, theidentification manager for identifying the potential mutualcorrespondence between the two resource providers responsive to thecharacteristics of the two resource providers, the explicit preferenceinformation received from the two resource providers and at least oneother of the plurality of resource providers and at least some of theidentifiers of the actions of the two resource providers and at leastone other of the plurality of resource providers and providing the useridentifiers of the two resource providers at an output; and a displaymanager at the first computer system having an input coupled to theidentification manager output for receiving the user identifiers of thetwo resource providers, the display manager for providing at an outputcoupled to the network, to at least one of the plurality of secondcomputer systems, an indication of at least one of the two resourceproviders for which the potential mutual correspondence was identifiedto the other of the two resource providers, responsive to the useridentifiers received at the display manager input.
 10. The system ofclaim 9: wherein the potential mutual correspondence has an expirationdate and time; and the display manager provides the indication with anindication of the expiration date and time.
 11. The system of claim 9,wherein at least one of the actions is a selection of one of theplurality of resource providers user from results of a search.
 12. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein at least one of the actions is a request or aresponse to a request to indicate a relationship with one of theplurality of resource providers.
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein atleast one of the actions is a sending of a message to one of theplurality of resource providers.
 14. The system of claim 9, wherein atleast one of the actions is an indication that a previously identifiedpotential mutual correspondence between one of the two resourceproviders and one of the plurality of users was or was not of interestto the at least one of the two users.
 15. The system of claim 9:additionally comprising a general desirability manager having an inputcoupled for receiving from each of at least some of the plurality ofresource providers a user identifier of that resource provider anindication of interest in at least one other of the plurality ofresource providers and for each of indication of interest, the useridentifier of said other resource provider, the general desirabilitymanager for identifying for each other of the plurality of resourceproviders a general desirability score responsive to the indication ofinterests in that other resource provider received at the generaldesirability manager input and for providing the general desirabilityscore at an output; and wherein the identification manager input isadditionally coupled to the general desirability manager output forreceiving the general desirability scores, and the identificationmanager identifies the potential mutual correspondence additionallyresponsive to the general desirability scores.
 16. The system of claim15, wherein the interest is indicated responsive to one of the at leastone of the two resource providers being identified as part of priorpotential mutual correspondence between such resource provider and eachof at least some of the plurality of resource providers identifiedbefore the identification of the potential mutual correspondence.
 17. Acomputer program product comprising a computer useable medium havingcomputer readable program code embodied therein for identifying andproviding a potential mutual correspondence of resources offered andinterests in resource between two of a plurality of resource providersoffering their resources over a network and displaying the potentialmutual correspondence to at least one of the resource providers via thenetwork, the computer program product comprising computer readableprogram code devices configured to cause a computer system to: receiveat a first computer system coupled to the network, via a plurality ofsecond computer systems coupled to the network, characteristics aboutthe resources being provided by each of the plurality of resourceproviders; receive at the first computer system via the plurality ofsecond computer systems via the network from each of the plurality ofresource providers, explicit preference information for characteristicsof the resources desired by said resource provider; receive at the firstcomputer system a plurality of indications of actions taken by each ofthe plurality of resource providers regarding individual other resourceproviders, the actions having been taken for purposes other thanproviding preference information for characteristics of the resourcesdesired by said resource provider; identify at the first computer systemthe potential mutual correspondence between the two resource providersresponsive to the characteristics of the two resource providers, theexplicit preference information received from the two resource providersand at least one other of the plurality of resource providers and atleast some of the indications of actions of the two resource providersand at least one other of the plurality of resource providers; andprovide from the first computer system to at least one of the pluralityof second computer systems, an indication of at least one of the tworesource providers for which the potential mutual correspondence wasidentified to the other of the two resource providers, responsive to thecomputer readable program code devices configured to cause the computersystem to identify.
 18. The computer program product of claim 17:wherein the potential mutual correspondence has an expiration date andtime; and additionally comprising computer readable program code devicesconfigured to cause the computer system to display an indication of theexpiration date and time.
 19. The computer program product of claim 17,wherein at least one of the actions action is a selection of one of theplurality of resource providers user from results of a search.
 20. Thecomputer program product of claim 17, wherein at least one of theactions is a request or a response to a request to indicate arelationship with one of the plurality of resource providers.
 21. Thecomputer program product of claim 17, wherein at least one of theactions is a sending of a message to one of the plurality of resourceproviders.
 22. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein atleast one of the actions is an indication that a previously identifiedpotential mutual correspondence between one of the two resourceproviders and one of the plurality of users was or was not of interestto the at least one of the two users.
 23. The computer program productof claim 17, wherein the computer readable program code devicesconfigured to cause the computer system to identify are additionallyresponsive to a number of the plurality of resource providers who haveindicated an interest in at least one of the two resource providers. 24.The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the interest isindicated responsive to one of the at least one of the two resourceproviders being identified as part of a prior potential mutualcorrespondence between such resource provider and each of at least oneof the other of the plurality of resource providers identified prior tothe computer readable program code devices configured to cause thecomputer system to identify.